Mega Man Zero (series)

Mega Man Zero (known as Rockman Zero in Japan) is a series of action games in the Mega Man meta-franchise. Succeeding the storyline of the Mega Man X series, the Zero games was co-produced by Keiji Inafune, and directed by Mega Man Legends series director Yoshinori Kawano. Consisting of four games developed for the Game Boy Advance by Inti Creates, the story follows Zero who is awakened by Ciel from a century-long hibernation to face his former friend Mega Man X, who has begun a genocide on the Reploids. Artwork for the series was handled by Toru Nakayama.

A compilation entitled Mega Man Zero Collection (Rockman Zero Collection in Japan) was made for the Nintendo DS. Another collection, that includes the Mega Man ZX games, was released in February 2020 for home consoles.

A manga series, published in three volumes, initially followed the plot of the Mega Man Zero games, but quickly started its own storyline that only loosely connected to them. They were illustrated by Hideto Kajima.

Contents

Mega Man Zero Collection - (2010) - Capcom bundled all four Mega Man Zero games into a single release for the DS titled Mega Man Zero Collection with new cover art by Toru Nakayama. No changes have been made to the games in comparison with the original versions, but a few new features were added to the compilation, like an artwork gallery and the ability to remap certain actions to different buttons, as well as an "Easy Scenario" mode that allow the four games to be played as if they were as a single one, with some alterations to make the game easier (e.g. blocks covering spikes, no need to feed Elves, all Cyber Elf powers automatically activated, etc.). The collection was released in North America on June 8, 2010, two days later in Japan and Australia and was slated for release in Europe on 11 June 2010, however, release in the European region has been patchy, with the game not being released in some nations.

Like the Mega Man X and original Mega Man series, the Mega Man Zero series is a bidimensional platform game with run and gun elements that places a heavy emphasis on memorizing boss patterns and selecting the correct weapons to use against enemies. Unlike previous series, the stages of Mega Man Zero are connected, with the player being assigned missions. However, Mega Man Zero 2 and later entries returned to the standard format that allowed the player to select a mission from a stage select screen.

One noticeable change from previous Mega Man series is the ability of the main character, Zero, to level up his weapons and gain new skills by defeating enemies, though this was eventually discontinued from Mega Man Zero 3 onwards.

The Zero series also introduced the Cyber Elf System, which allows Zero to equip small helper beings known as "Cyber Elves" to assist him in combat. This system can cause permanent changes such as increasing Zero's life bar or even covering dangerous spikes, or grant temporary enhancements, such as the ability to deflect bullets for a short time. Zero can use three different types of Cyber Elves, but the player's overall game score will be deducted for every Elf used. Later entries in the Zero series had more lenient prerequisites for the usage and consumption of Cyber Elves.

Another new addition to the franchise is the presence of elemental weapons; in every game except Zero 4, Zero gains three element chips that can be attached to any of his four weapons: the Z-Buster, the Z-Saber, the Attack Rod (which changes appearance and function with each game), and the Shield Boomerang. Doing so adds elemental effects to his attacks and allows him to use them to attack bosses' weak points. The elements consist of Fire, Lightning and Ice. Fire beats Ice, Ice beats Lightning and Lightning beats Fire.